Shoe-lace.



1. GROSSIGEBAUERI SSSSSSS E.

APPUCATI D JUNE12, 1913. 1,165,775. Patented Dec. 28,1915.

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JOHN GROSSGEBAUER, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

SHOE-LACE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN Gnossonnannn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Laces, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a shoe-lace which shall when in use present a neat and attractive appearance in general, and especially where the lace is passed back and forthbetween the eyelets, and which shall be stronger and more durable than ordinary ribbons or the like fabrics commonly used for the purpose.

For certain kinds of foot-wear, and es pecially ladies foot-wear, it is desired to use a material which shall possess a certain stiffness which will keep the bow erect and shapely. For this purpose suitable lengths of woven ribbon are usually cut off and used in preference to ready-made laces of the common braided kind, which soon become limp and hence unshapely and untidy, but the ribbon being of uniform width throughout it not only is practically impossible to arrange it with uniform neatness where it is passed back and forth through the eyelets but, being of undue bulk at this part, it becomes soon worn or frayed and further gathers dust and becomes unsightly in that respect.

According to this invention the lace is formed of woven material and has the part thereof which is to be passed back and forth through the eyeletsthat is, the intermediate portion thereof-woven narrower than the end portions, which may be of some width suitable for forming a bow. In forming the lace the threads of the warp are not reduced in number where the lace is narrowed, but said warp threads, by a suitable operation in the weaving process, are simply brought closer together than they stand in the ends of the lace, whereby the lace is made more durable (because of the greater number of warp threads to a given width) in the part thereof where the wear is greatest and of such a width as to pass through and extend between the eyelets with reduced creasing or folding thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is Specification of Letters Patent.

. Application filed June 12, 1913.

liatented Dec. 28, EH5. Serial No. 775,200.

a perspective view of a shoe-lace formed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of a fragment of one form thereof; and Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views on lines and y3 of Fig. 2.

In Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the portion designated (1. represents one end-portion of the lace and the portion designated Z) its intermediate or eyelet-received portion. The portion 6 is woven narrower than the portion a, though possessing the same number of warp threads, in any suitable way, for instance, by em ploying a reed in the loom which is adapted, after a suitable length of material to form the endor bow-portion a has been woven, to be contracted so as to bring the warp threads gradually closer together (thereby producing the tapering connection portion 0) until the width for the portion Z) has been established, whereupon the weaving procoeds with the width maintained constant for a suitable distance, according to the length desired for the narrowed or eyeletreceived portion 6, whereupon finally the reed is expanded so as to gradually reestablish the width of the lace as that originally assumed. Moreover, whereas the portion 6 is woven tubular, the portions a have only single thickness. In this way a lace is formed which, while possessed of the desired stiffness peculiar to woven fabrics and being shaped in its eyelet-received portion to substantially the width needed therein, is capable of being formed into a neat and attractive bow and yet has increased durability where the wear is greatest. At the same time the widening is accomplished without incidental laps or folds being produced where the narrow and wide portions merge, any cross-section of the lace from substantially end to end thereof revealing a uniform thickness from side to side of the lace.

I in some instances weave the intermediate or eyelet-received portion of the lace of a more durable material, such as cotton, than the end-portions, which are woven in silk.

In Fig. 1 the lace is shown provided with the tips 6. These, it will be understood, form no part of the invention and may be omitted if desired.

. Having thus fully described my invention, what I- claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is As a new article of manufacture, a shoe- 5 lace formed of a piece of a woven fabric having its intermediate or eyelet-received portion tubular and contracted in width and containing substantially the same number of warp threads as its end-portions and also 10 having its end-portions each formed in single thickness, the lace in any cross-section from substantially end to end thereof having uniform thickness from side to side of the lace, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa- 15 ture in presence of two witnesses. JOHN GROSSGEBAUER.

Witnesses JOHN W. STEWARD, WM. D. BELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. v 

